Several conflicting reasons were given for the ugly events that took
place in Buhoodle this week. In an interview with the BBC Somali
Service, one of Buhoodle’s chiefs, Garad Abdillahi Sofe, said the
conflagration in Buhoodle was started by young traders of the narcotic
drug Qat. The Garad may be right in that the Qat traders were the hands
that lit the fuse. But there are also credible reports that a recently
formed group headed by Dr Suleiman Isse Ahmed (Hagle Toosiye) and Col
Ali Saberey saw the situation as an opportunity to show that they can
make things happen on the ground and were the actual behind the scenes
instigators of what transpired.
Ethiopian soldiers were of course wrong to cross the border and also
bear responsibility for what took place. Some Somaliland-haters have
gone even further and accused Somaliland of having persuaded the
Ethiopians to attack Buhoodle, which is a blatant lie. Whatever the
immediate cause may have been, the conflict in Buhoodle has exposed the
heart of the problem, which is that the previous status quo is no longer
tenable in Buhoodle; and the reason it is no longer tenable is because
there are now radicalized militants such as the group headed by Dr
Suleiman I. Ahmed and Col. Ali Saberey and other terrorists who are
fishing for opportunities to exploit in Buhoodle, Sool and Sanag
regions.
Neither Somaliland, nor Ethiopia, nor the international community can
afford to allow such destructive forces to take hold in Buhoodle, Sool
and Sanag regions. Both Somaliland and Ethiopia already recognize the
gravity of the situation and are moving to nip this threat in the bud.
But it is not clear if the international community recognizes the danger
signs. The reason we are raising questions about the international
community’s grasp of the situation is because both Dr Suleiman I. Ahmed
(an American citizen) and Col. Ali Saberey (a Canadian citizen) were
arrested by the Kenyan authorities who suspected them of involvement in
terrorist activities, but somehow they were released and were able to
sneak into Somaliland to wreak havoc. Furthermore, since Suleiman I.
Ahmed is an American citizen and Ali Saberey is a Canadian citizen, and
since the US and Canada give high priority to fighting terrorism, many
people expected these two countries to have moved by now against their
two radicalized citizens, but to the best of our knowledge, no such
moves were made. To get some idea of the methods and ideology of these
two naturalized American and Canadian citizens, one need not look
further than the fact that a video of dead Ethiopian soldiers who were
beaten and dragged through the streets of Buhoodle is being used to
raise funds and morale for these two naturalized American and Canadian
citizens (the video was posted in you tube).
For the time being, Somaliland and Ethiopia are combating these
terrorist threats alone, but it is also in the international community’s
interest to do their part in ensuring that Somaliland and Ethiopia
succeed in their efforts to keep radical terrorists out of their
territories.